Attorney General Anil Nandlall has said the Georgetown City Council is bluffing with its threats from City Mayor Alfred Mentore to seek legal redress in the Courts over the ownership of the land earmarked for a massive Qatari hotel investment.

The Government and the City Council have been haggling over the land’s ownership, with the Government stating that it has owned the land since 1966, but with the City Council producing a transport in its name.

On Tuesday, the City Mayor announced plans to write to the investors for the hotel to brief them on the dispute. This follows an ultimatum that was issued by the Council to the Government on the issue.

On his “Issues In the News” programme last evening, Mr. Nandlall said the Mayor has been threatening Court action for more than a year now with no move.

“The contention of the Mayor is that the land where the hotel is going to be constructed is owned by the City Council and he keeps repeating this allegation and threatening to go to Court for the past year and a half. I don’t know if he wishes to intimidate the investors or what is his intention but a year and a half of bluff is all we have seen,” Mr. Nandlall noted.

The City Hall had dispatched a letter to President Irfaan Ali last year seeking an intervention.

The Council maintains that the land in question was given as a gift to the City. However, the Attorney General said the portion of land gifted to the City has been clearly demarcated. He said there is conclusive evidence that the hotel is not being constructed on that plot.

“As Attorney General I had the responsibility of reviewing the documents, and the Lands and Surveys Commission also assisted in the review of the documents which include transports, surveyors plan of the area, we know what part is owned by the state and what part was given by the state as license to which agency and by lease. We also know that there is a part not far from there, that is not owned by the state, that was gifted to the City Council and that part is not the part where the Hotel is,” the Attorney General stated.

The Hotel is a US$300M investment that could take more than three years to build.

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